Spillane has managed tours for Dolly Parton, Korn, Lady Gaga, Slayer, Heaven & Hell (Black Sabbath), Kelly Osbourne and A Perfect Circle. She currently works with the multi-platinum band Shinedown.

"Everyone hears about the bad things rock bands do, like trashing hotel rooms," said Spillane. "That happens maybe once every 10 years. People hardly hear about the good things bands do, or how funny they are."

Spillane called rocker Ronnie James Dio "one of the most connected musicians to his fans" before he died in 2010.

She can share plentiful stories of Dio standing in the rain, signing autographs for as long as it took, never hurrying people along.

Standing at 5'4, he was also one of her smallest clients.

"He had all his stage clothes custom-made," Spillane said. "I asked him why and he said, 'Maryjo, I can't be evil in little-kid clothes.'"

Sneaking Maynard

Officially, Spillane is a production manager, but in basic terms, she's a fixer. She handles any obstacles to a band's tour, including mistakes made by the stars themselves.

On one tour for A Perfect Circle, vocalist Maynard James Keenan called Spillane at 2 a.m. with an emergency. He lost his passport, and had to fly from Zurich, Switzerland to Paris, France that morning.

"I pick up the phone and Maynard goes, 'I screwed up,'" Spillane laughed. "And Maynard is one of the most organized packers. He's normally meticulous, so he was really upset."

Spillane called their airline and the U.S. Embassy in France, trying and failing to get Keenan in without his passport.

Finally, in desperation, Spillane and Keenan decided to sneak over by rail. They took a train from Zurich to Basel, hopped across a track to the French border, then bought tickets to Paris.

"It felt like espionage," Spillane said. "We were like, what happens if they get us? But we just ate a lot croissants and got to Paris 75 minutes after everyone else."

Keenan bought her Yves Saint Laurent boots as a thank-you gift.

Earning Gaga's trust

While Spillane made close friends with some musicians on tour, others keep their managers at arm's length.

"Just because you're traveling together doesn't mean you're going to be best friends," Spillane said. "But I've found that the Elton Johns and Celine Dions are truly nice people. You don't make it to that level without being nice."

Spillane worked on Lady Gaga's tour for over three years, but it took a year for the singer to speak to Spillane directly.

"We had interactions, like being copied on her emails," Spillane said. "The poor woman has so many people in her face all the time. How do you trust anyone?"

Chatting with Gaga's parents one day, Spillane mentioned offhand she hadn't yet spoken to their daughter in person. Then, at the next show in Atlantic City, Gaga's security called her to come over backstage.

"I'll never forget this," she said. "[Gaga] had her arms out and thanked me for being there. It was kind of awkward, because I knew her parents must have said something. But it wasn't fake, she started saying hi every time she saw me."

The first time Gaga ever texted, Spillane responded, "Who's this?" Soon, they were texting about business regularly.

In her 20s, Spillane remembers hounding Iron Maiden's production manager with questions: What kind of gear do they use? What kind of lights do they use? He kept saying he didn't know.

"I kept asking until he said, 'Look, I don't need to know every piece." Spillane said. "'It's just all chaos. My job is to manage the chaos, because it's always going to be there.' That was an epiphany for me."

Part of that chaos may also be last-minute damage control. If a star has to cancel a show, Spillane handles the publicity and financial fallout. It's stressful, but she loves it.

"I don't know how to do anything else."

After managing global tours for almost three decades, Spillane knows the only predictable thing about show business is that it's unpredictable.

"As soon as you're off the bus, people are asking questions and freaking out," Spillane said. "You're putting out a fire here or dealing with a payment problem there. By the time I sit down, it's like, did I brush my teeth? Did I put on a bra?"

Music fans can read more rock band tales in Spillane's upcoming book, "Trials of the Tour." It started as her journal. Since she began working, she has kept a diary of vignettes about touring with music's biggest stars.

For instance, Spillane toured over a year with Dolly Parton, and noticed how she kept several notepads on hand to write song ideas.

"Dolly is very upbeat; she's usually humming or singing to herself," Spillane said. "She's always writing down phrases she hears and likes. You never know what she's going to use in a song."

When Spillane comes home to Syracuse, she enjoys being anonymous after working in close proximity to mega stars. She shops at Wegmans. She buys coffee at Starbucks.

"When I tell people what I do, they don't understand," Spillane laughed. "My mom still asks when I'm going to get a real job."

Along with Spillane, John Cadley, Stacey Waterman and DOVE will be inducted into the SAMMYs Hall of Fame on March 1.